Gaelic in the Family

I would like to say thank you to the Council’s previous blog writer Brendan Ahern for interviewing me in his last post, as well as the kind introduction. I am happy to be contributing to this blog for the remainder of my time working for Comhairle na Gàidhlig.

While continuing on the topic of people who are contributing to the revitalization of Gaelic language and culture in Nova Scotia, I decided to meet with Crìsdean and Ròs Cuimean last week to interview them about their involvement with Gaelic language and culture in the community, as well as in their home.

During the interview Crìsdean and Ròs shared with me how they first started learning Gaelic, “we were planning our wedding and we wanted to incorporate Gaelic culture into our ceremony to respect our heritage.” After researching Gaelic culture and different ways they could incorporate it into their wedding, they decided to start Gaelic classes at Sgoil Ghàidhlig an Àrd-bhaile (which is coincidentally where I first started my own Gaelic learning journey, and met Crìsdean and Ròs myself!).

The couple both have connections to Gaelic; Ròs herself was born in Glasgow, Scotland (she has lived in Canada since she was nine years old) and recalls being exposed to Gaelic from a young age. “We had Gaelic programming on our TV but there was often no interest from those around us, and it was usually viewed in a negative way. Gaelic was not passed through the family either.” She continued to say that even though there was little interest in Gaelic, the language was literally all around them and that “there were words in Scotland that we used all the time, but didn’t realize they were actually Gaelic". Crìsdean also shared that his roots were Gaelic (as well as Welsh and Irish), and that he also felt a strong interest in exploring his roots.

After taking classes at Sgoil Ghàidhlig an Àrd-bhaile, Crìsdean and Ròs began to incorporate Gaelic culture into their everyday life. The couple explained to me that they began speaking the Gaelic they had learned to their sons Keegan (17 years), Aonghas (2 years), and now hope to continue speaking and teaching Gaelic to their newest family addition, Lachlann (1 month old).

“Gaelic is very much an everyday part of life for our family” says Crìsdean. “In fact, it is the first language (including English) for Aonghas, who picks up Gaelic very quickly from us and has full comprehension.” Crìsdean further explained that “Aonghas has been exposed to Gaelic from birth and we use as much Gaelic as we can everyday with our whole family.”

The couple also takes part in step dancing and singing which they both teach to their children and include in their daily activities; Crìsdean has even been learning the fiddle. The children are also exposed to Gaelic through their favorite television shows. Ròs shared that “Aonghas watches Gaelic cartoons everyday on BBC Alba such as Peppa Pig, Rupert, Padraig Post and many more.”

In addition to music, dance, and singing in the home, Ròs does traditional weaving and spinning using fleece from local farms as well as local and Scottish plants for dye, all using a traditional spinning wheel and looms (one of which is estimated to be about 200 years old). She explained that “plants from different areas even an hour away will give a different color”, and also that “in Scotland different colored dyes from plants are associated with different areas geographically.” All of these things make traditional weaving unique to the area it is crafted in.

Outside of their home Crìsdean and Ròs enjoy attending as many Gaelic events as they can within the community, such as millings, ceilidhs, and much more. They strongly believe that supporting and sharing Gaelic culture through the community is just as important as in the home. Ròs explained that while growing up in Scotland even your neighbors were called “Auntie”, and that the concept of family is so closely tied to community. The couple further explained that “sharing language and culture is what makes us Gaels” and that “the concept of family is more than just a last name, it is also a community, it is people sharing a language and culture.”

It is wonderful to see a family working together to help keep these Gaelic traditions alive through language, music, as well as arts and crafts in the home and community. Crìsdean and Ròs hope to continue attending community events, they also hope to continue their Gaelic language studies and plan to be entirely fluent in Gaelic. Through writing, speaking, and listening they hope to bring Gaelic into their home and pass it onto their children, so that they too can help contribute to the future of Gaelic in Nova Scotia.

Gach deagh dhùrachd / Every good wish!

Introducing Laura Màrr

Well my friends, it’s time for me to say goodbye. This job with the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia has been outstanding, but it’s time to move on and make room for the new. Her name is Laura Màrr, and she’s going to be taking over this blog and all of the social media work that we do at Comhairle Na Gàidhlig. You might have already met her. She’s been with us since April and has attended a number of events already.

“It’s been such a positive experience. I loved visiting the Celtic Collection at St.FX, and the milling frolic at the Central Library during Gaelic Awareness month. I’m really looking forward to taking more trips to Cape Breton and going to more events across the province as they happen throughout the summer. I really look forward to just traveling around the province and being involved. I like having a constant change of scenery.”

She certainly does. Laura has been all over the shop. “My parents are from different places in Nova Scotia and my father had a business that required us to move around a lot.”

She’s lived in Halifax, the Valley and a few other places in the province. Those early experiences of travelling throughout the province have played a part in her current interest and engagement in Gaelic culture. “I started to do some research into my family history and I found out that I had connections to this culture and language existing right here in my own backyard. It’s such a large piece of the cultural mosaic.”

Today Laura is completing a degree in Anthropology with a double minor in Classical and Irish studies at the university of St. Mary’s. Laura has also studied Scottish Gaelic at SMU through the Irish studies department. It was through this department that Laura was able to spend a semester studying Irish Gaelic in the Gaeltahct of Connemara, after which time she stayed across the pond to travel extensively throughout Ireland and Scotland. She has also been taking Scottish Gaelic classes at Sgoil Ghàidhlig an Àrd-bhaile in Halifax.

“I study mostly linguistic and socio-cultural anthropology. Linguistic anthropology is linguistics with a cultural element to it; it is the study of how language influences social life, the study of people and their language. And socio-cultural anthropology is everything to do with the inter-play between culture and people. I find that the linguistic and socio-cultural aspects of my studies are really tying in well with the language revitalization efforts that are going on here in Nova Scotia. I love the way that my work with the Council is bringing me into direct contact with my studies.”

Laura is also a classically trained cellist who can also be heard playing guitar and providing some vocals in her band, Ulvesang. With such a diverse background encompassing both personal and academic interest in the language and culture, travel experience, and artistic influences, I had to ask Laura what readers might expect from our blog once she takes it over.

“I would really like to surround myself with people who are involved in the arts and music. To learn more about what they do and add a musical/cultural/artistic aspect to the blog. Also, highlighting the success stories of the people who are revitalizing Gaelic language and culture in Nova Scotia—even if it’s not directly through language and through the other cultural aspects like music and art. It’s gong to be great to pick up this blog and continue working on it with a focus on these cultural areas.”

 

In the last six months my time working with Comhairle na Gàidhlig  has given me a much greater appreciation for what that means—to be a “Nova Scotian.” This job has allowed me to met so many wonderful, interesting, intelligent and hilarious people who are constant reminder that what we have here in Nova Scotia is a living culture on the rise.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel to places and events that I would have completely missed out on: The Gaelic College up in Cape Breton, where I spent a weekend learning and laughing with Cailean Dòmhnullach, Daibhidh MacFhraingm and Goiridh Dòmhnullach. The CASNA conference at StFX where I met men and women who are pushing the boundaries of current Gaelic and Celtic scholarship. The Growing a Creative Economy Conference in Membertou, Cape Breton where men and women with diverse backgrounds shared ideas and models for building sustainable and joyful lives right here in the province and the powerful role that culture can play in that endeavor.

For years now this Gaelic experience has been happening in my backyard and I’m so happy to have finally joined in the fun.

Laura, you’re up! J

Gach deagh dhùrachd / Every good wish!

Where we're heading

Hello everyone! Last week Comhairle na Gaidhlig shared the news about a teacher’s meeting in Antigonish Nova Scotia. The purpose for this gathering of Gaelic educators was to start compiling materials to be added into a resource guide for the Department of Education’s new curriculum. If you didn’t know already let me be the first to tell you that Gaelic is going to be incorporated into every grade level and every subject.

The Nova Scotia curriculum is going through enormous changes. The four heritage cultures, Acadian, African Nova Scotian, Mi’kmaq and Gaelic, are taking center stage. To have the Gaelic community and culture be included on something like this is a huge win. The number of people who have expressed their excitement and support for the work that is being done on the new curriculum has been so heartening. There are also a lot of questions. And that’s what this blog post is going to be about. Hopefully, providing you with more information about what has been happening in our schools and what is coming down the road.

To help explain, I spoke with Tonya Lundrigan Fry, president of the Gaelic Council of Nova Scotia and host/facilitator for last week’s meeting in Antigonish.

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INTERVIEWER What is the history behind the new curriculum?

TONYA About a year ago the Department of Education approached the Gaelic Council and informed us that they were developing a new curriculum for all of Nova Scotia. In a nut-shell, Gaelic, Mi’kmaq, Acadian, & African Nova Scotian, are being incorporated into the learning outcomes at every grade level and every subject being taught in Nova Scotia. Teachers will have the ability to use cultural aspects of all four heritage cultures to inform and teach their students, emphasising the historic cultures that have developed and shaped our province.

Of course, this initiative requires a lot of resources. The Mi’kmaq resource guide was developed last summer. The Acadian resource guide has been in place for quite some time now, through their own School Board’s support. The African Nova Scotian community is working with the Department of Education on the development of a Resource Guide too. All three of these cultural groups have been well-represented on the school boards. When the Department of Education approached us it was to ask for our help in compiling the data to support the Gaelic resource guide.

Over the last 10 years there has been a curriculum in place for Gaelic in the schools of Nova Scotia to support grade 3 and 4 cultural Gaelic learning and Grade 11 social studies programs. Some schools have also adopted a Gaelic language program because the demand in their communities was so great. So the resources have been in place for quite some time, and over the years those resources have been added to and modified. Those are extremely valuable resources and the new curriculum is going to create a huge demand for them. Teachers in Nova Scotia are going to want help with Gaelic cultural connections for the purpose of learning for themselves and their students.

INTERVIEWR So teachers who have not previously been engaged with Gaelic language and culture will now be incorporating it into their lessons?

TONYA Absolutely, and what we’re doing right now is trying to provide them with the resources that they’ll need to represent the culture appropriately, and who better to supply the resources than those in the community who are already teachers, and that includes those in public school, in university and those that are teaching in the community?

INTERVIEWER The curriculum is being introduced in phases. When was the first phase introduced?

TONYA The New curriculum for grades primary to grade 3 was released in September 2015, as part of the Department of Education’s efforts to improve the provincial school curriculum and it was released without a Gaelic recourse guide. Not that they are entering into the next phase which will include higher grade levels, teachers are going to be asking for more help with Gaelic cultural learning: ‘How am I going to teach children about numbers in Gaelic if I don’t know them myself? How am I going to be able to inform children about the Gaelic identity and way of life—the way they value the community elders, the way they revere nature, the blessings for the moon, for the harvest, for the meal, for the family? How can we share that?’ Well that’s where we come in.

Comhairle na Gaidhlig is taking the lead role in coordinating the collection of these learning resources. It’s taken quite a few months to pull all of this together. Last Friday was the first time we were able to get all the Gaelic culture and language school and community teachers together to share with us their best practices. We shared ideas and started collecting their recourses. We have framework and a proposed delivery approach for the Department of Education.

INTERVIEWER Has is been a long process of lobbying and advocating for Gaelic to be incorporated into something like this?

TONYA Very long. Over 10 years. And all of those that have gone before us have contributed to where we are now. For example, there has been a group that as led by the Office of Gaelic affairs meeting in Mulgrave every quarter for the last year and a half. They have made great strides and gave the Gaelic Council more doffer required for our own lobbying and advocating work. Teachers have been similarly engaged for a long time now, and we have had school-boards and teacher’s unions working toward the same goal. We’ve also had representation at the universities—hence we were able to see StFX offer Gaelic as a teachable to students working toward their Bachelor of Education degrees.

INTERVIEWER What do you think has changed over the last ten years that has brought Gaelic from being not on the radar as a heritage language in Nova Scotia to now where it is on the government’s new curriculum?

TONYA It has build momentum over time. People’s awareness has increased. We have put a lot of 

emphases on sharing Gaelic language as part of a culture and identity. We’re not just trying to preserve language, we want to heighten people’s awareness of their own culture and ancestry. A lot of people know that they’re from Scotland, but they may not realise that their Scottish ancestors came with their own language. So, valuing not just the language, but the identity that goes with it.

I also think that the work of other cultural groups has assisted our own efforts. The Acadian community is very strong in terms of their awareness, development and engagement in being recognized as a leading culture in the province. I would also say that the Mi’kmaq have had a longer and harder battle than we have, but they’re about 10 years ahead of us in their cultural awareness and community development around education, and the African Nova Scotian community is on track with us in terms of representing their culture and identity and what it has brought to the development of the Nova Scotian identity.

All those things working together have helped each other, either intentionally or inadvertently, and because the Department of Communities Culture and Heritage has put all of these communities together under their umbrella, we’re better able to boost historical cultural awareness. That awareness broadens the community and more people are becoming aware of their own Gaelic heritage as part of as a result of all that collaboration.

INTERVIEWER What is the next step for the Gaelic community in Nova Scotia and the Gaelic Council with regard to the curriculum?

TONYA The next step is to prove the data for a resource guise to the Department of Education before the next school term starts. The next level in the phase will be for grades 4 to 6. We need to be prepared for a lot of teachers asking questions and looking for guidance from individuals within our community. They will be looking for resources and support. We’re going to have to build those resources.

If anyone in the Gaelic community has any learning resources that they would like to contribute we’re still open to receiving them until July 7^th. After that we’re going to proceed with development of the reference guide materials for the Department of Education. Community members can forward their material to our email address, comhairlenagaidhlig@gmail.com), and we will thank them for their contribution. We can’t guarantee that everything will be in there. Right now we’re just building the frame-work and attaching all the recommended best practices. It’s on a volunteer basis that we’ve come together to do this. We all did a really good job last Friday. We have begun to scratch the, but there is still more to do.

INTERVIEWER Finally, what is your favorite Gaelic word of Phrase?

TONYA My favorite prase is “S’math dh’fhaicinn!” / “It’s good to see you!

” 

What We Have

In the fall of 2006, after I graduated high school I left Nova Scotia and worked at a restaurant in Banff Alberta. In the dining room hung a painting of a prairie land-scape. Golden wheat stretching back and back to a dark wall on the horizon that represented the Rocky Mountains. At least, I can be 90% sure that was what the artist had in mind when she painted it. I say 90 % because when I looked at the painting I didn’t always see golden wheat and mountains. Sometimes, and especially at times when I would be feeling particularly home-sick, I would stare at this painting until the wheat became sand and the mountains turned into the Northumberland Strait. The sea-side environment that I felt the most attached to had been imprinted on my psyche to such a degree that this painting of an Albertan prairie had become my own personal Rorschach test.

 

The beach was a place that I would go to with my family in the summer, the place where I first played in waves that were taller than me, and the place where my friends and I would have bon-fires. That beach is just one aspect of my environment that called on me to come home—and that’s exactly what I did. It’s the very same thing that draws people from all over the world to come visit. I know I feel a lot of pride when I meet people visiting from America, Europe and indeed Alberta, who are here to enjoy “Canada’s ocean play-ground.”

It’s worthwhile to celebrate what we have here in this corner of the world. For example, every Summer Point Michaud beach in Richmond County hosts the annual surf classic—a fun event for people of all ages to come and play in the waves that break along that sandy bit of Cape Breton coastline. Another example, and one which perhaps many more of you are familiar with, is the Celtic Colours International Festival that takes place each October.

“We know what we have here. We cherish it. All of our events show off something that we celebrate here. We don’t put on this event so that tourists can come, we put on this event because this is what we do. This is how we celebrate life. This is how we celebrate culture.”

That quote was taken from a presentation that Dawn Beaton gave at the Conference for Growing a Creative Economy up in Membertou, Sydney last month. Dawn and I caught up after the conference and had a chat. Dawn is the Artistic Director of the Celtic Colours International Festival. She has been involved with the administration of the festival for six years--but a performer since the very first one—and like a lot of the people who I have talked to during my time with the Gaelic Council, Dawn’s introduction to Gaelic culture began at home.

“I’ve been very blessed to have had the family, and more specifically the grandparents that I’ve had. Growing up I would hear my grandparents speak to each other in Gaelic. My first segue into Gaelic culture was learning Gaelic songs and singing in the choir that Margie (Stanley) Beaton had set up when I was in grade 1. She had this little choir and we would meet after school and perform at the Inverness Manor and at some of the parish concerts.”

When Dawn graduated from high school she moved to Antigonish, Nova Scotia where she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration at St. Francis Xavier University. From there she moved to Halifax where she worked for 3 years with an accounting firm.

“I’m from Mabou, a small village. I got a degree in a bigger town, and then moved up to Halifax for 3 years. It took 3 years in Halifax to kind of say ‘okay this is not my path.” And so I ended up back home. Even a short move to Halifax was enough to give me the perspective to see how special the things that I already had were to me.”

The culture that Dawn grew up with and connects with has been valued highly by men and women from all over the world who travel long distances just to get a taste of it.

“Because of this job I meet a lot of people who come from away. And something I’ve heard a lot from many is that when they cross the Causeway they physically feel different. Something clicks, something changes.”

I asked Dawn how she and her team walk the line between an authentic representation of the culture that we work to preserve and perpetuate, and the almost exploitative staged cultural events that you might experience in a Disney park. Her answer was simple.

“When we’re not authentic, we lose. That has been the thought process for having this event. If the locals don’t go, then why are we doing it? What’s the point? We’ve had that at the core of everything we do. It’s been our mantra.”

The Celtic Colours International Festival is a showcase of what already exists in Cape Breton; a nine-day distillation of something that you can’t quite find anywhere else, and which some of us don’t fully appreciate until we’ve travelled away from it.

Gach Deagh Dùrachd! / Every Good Wish!

Dawn’s favorite word in Gaelic is: Uamhasach/Terribly

“I like the way it rolls of the tongue and you can really get that local accent in there. Folks who have never spoken a word of Gaelic in their life, might speak in a very Gaelic way with the same inflection and tones that this word emulates. So I like the way it reminds me of that.” 

A chat with Robert Dunbar, Nathaniel Harrington and Maggie Bonsey

Rob Dunbar has been back and forth across the Atlantic more times in the last two months than many of us have been in our entire lives. On April 2^nd he presented at the Dalhousie Gaelic Colloquium, and again on the 9^th up at the Gaelic College. This past weekend he was one among many scholars to gather in Antigonish Nova Scotia for the Celtic Studies Association of North America annual conference of 2016. He didn’t show the jet-lag though, and was kind enough to sit down with me during the scheduled lunch break last Saturday. I thought I was going to be attending this conference just to interview Dr. Dunbar, but after hearing the first two rounds of presentations I had to grab two others. Both Maggie Bonsey, graduate student at the University of Limerick, and Nathaniel Harrington, graduate student at the University of Toronto accepted my invitation and together the four of us all sat down to a have a chat. It was a fantastic opportunity to discover how these top-notch scholars first became interested in Gaelic language and culture, and also to hear their thoughts on language loss and revitalization.

INTERVIEWER How did you first become interested in Gaelic language and culture?

ROB It started off as a bit of curiosity. My grandparents and some of my aunts and uncles spoke it. I heard a bit of it growing up. So I was interested, but never really took an active interest.

Then I lived in Brazil for the better part of a year when I was 22-23. When I was there people were always asking me, “Where’d your family come from?” I knew a little bit, like the genealogies going all the way back to Scotland, but I really didn’t know anything about who those people were.

So that got me started wanting to learn a little bit of Gaelic. 

The language is interesting but it was the living song tradition and aspects of the oral tradition that were still surviving here in NS that really grabbed me, and that’s what kept me going and wanting to get up to a level of fluency. And meeting people, other learners and native speakers here and in TO. I had a level of fluency before I ever set foot in Scotland at least as an adult, so it was my experience here, both here in NS and in Toronto, that got me hooked.

NATHANIEL I’ve been interested in minority languages in general, and Celtic languages in particular, since I was about 9 or 10 because of the media that I was exposed to by my parents. Initially I was most interested in Welsh but sometime around the beginning of High school I started shifting toward Gaelic. Part of it had to do with the fact that my family is of Scottish origin despite my very English name. So Gaelic was vaguely on my radar.

I tried teaching myself on and off through high school, but I didn’t get that far along. So when I was doing my undergrad I finally said “no I’m actually going to commit to this”, and I enrolled in a distance course through Sol Mòr Ostaig. After I’d finished I was thinking about what my senior essay was going to be and I thought, “I want to do something with Gaelic stuff. Wouldn’t it be great if the university were to give me some money so I can go to Nova Scotia and poke around, do some research, and talk to people?”

MAGGIE I’m from Northern Arizona originally. I became fascinated with Scotland and highland culture and thought that I was going to go to Ireland and restore castles. I went to Berkley for my undergrad and enrolled in an Irish course as part of a requirement for a Celtic Studies, and that’s when I thought “okay maybe not castles, but Irish is wonderful!”

And so I kind of went head-first into language revitalization for Irish. My family is Jewish, I don’t have a Celtic connection. But my grandfather was a native Yiddish speaker and he didn’t pass that onto his children so I didn’t grow up with Yiddish. So I do have this, cultural memory of language loss and I don’t want to see that happen with Ireland.

INTERVIEWER In your view, what does language loss actually mean? And what are the consequences for the communities and people that experience it?

ROB I think we all have a tendency to abstract language from other things. This is language loss-but it’s not just language loss. It’s everything else that goes with the loss of a particular language though. The web of meaning, relationships, literature, personal histories.

When I did start learning Gaelic in the early 1990s I spent a lot of time here in Nova Scotia at various times in the year. There were many fewer older native speakers here now than there were at that time, and even at that time compared to 20 years before there was a huge reduction. And it was quite clear to me that it wasn’t just sadness at the death of a language that people were experiencing but everything else that goes along with that—a fundamental, constitutive part of personal identities. 

To me that was quite shocking. It showed me that once language goes how quickly all sorts of things are erased with it. That’s quite an unhealthy thing.

INTERVIEWER Speaking Gaelic outside of the classroom setting and identifying oneself as a Gael both require some emotional buy-in with the culture. In your view, what are the ways that we can foster that emotional connection between the language learner and the wider culture, both in school and in the community?

MAGGIE I feel like the best way to help these languages not to diminish further is just to normalize them. That's why I am working with Irish and Gaelic media for my PHD. Specifically, I’m looking at media produced in the last decade. There are cop shows in Irish, there’s a musical comedy in Irish, it’s amazing. The fact that these things are being well-received and that it’s a thing that is possible gives me a lot of hope. I know a lot of people who are watching a very popular Danish cop show that everyone is obsessed with right now. They’re watching it even thought it’s in Danish. If you can do a show like that in Danish, why can’t you do a show like that in Irish?

ROB Associating the language with local stories, stories that are close to people’s day to day lived experience is important. But as with anything, this way of thinking can become a bit of a trap when it becomes essentialist. When people start saying, “We want to learn our dialect”—well who are “we”? Does “we” include only people who have that genetic link? Certainly the family story was part of the reason why I got interested, but it wasn’t what kept me learning. Almost all of my cousins who have the same story as I do, and they are completely indifferent to the language and culture. Why should they count any more than interested people who love the language and value the culture but who have no genetic tie to it?

For me, I think engaging people in a meaningful way, and a way that is open and inclusive is what healthy communities are all about. When I lived in Brazil nobody cared that I was learning Portuguese, they didn’t care about my personal story, it was enough that I was participating. 

This is how we live our lives. We don’t live our lives by saying “is this person just like us?" "Do they have the same background?” That’s not a sign of a healthy community. Getting to a stage where our communities are healthy, means having a firm sense of self and tradition, but also being open. 

NATHANIEL The first step has to be to start valuing these communities for their own sake. This is another issue I have with the way people talk about language endangerment is that often times the way it gets framed especially for Western Anglophone audiences especially if they’re talking about indigenous languages in places like South America or wherever that a lot of the way it gets talked about is “we need to save these languages because indigenous people\s know a lot about the local bio diversity and imagine how much we can learn from them.” 

We need to start valuing these languages and communities for their own sake because they’re human beings who are inherently valuable and whose cultures and languages and traditions are valuable not because of what they can do for the rest of the world, but because of who they are and what they do for themselves.

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Maggie’s favorite word in Gaelic is Rance : It’s very colloquial, I’ve never heard it used by anyone other than my Irish Professor’s combination of Munster and Connacht Irish. It’s a dance word. As he described it to us, “ it’s a jangly dance word”.

Nathaniel’s favorite word in Gaelic is “tlachd”. I just like the sound of it. It means “comfort”.

Rob’s I’ll give you two: Laochan (little hero), because that’s what I tend to call some of my friends and my 8 year old. And the other one that I used to hear from one of my uncles when he greeted us and it was ghaolain’ (my dear little boy).

Gach deagh dhùrachd!

Last week Pat MacIsaack and I arranged to meet up and talk about how she first came to be interested in learning Gaelic. Pat keeps a busy schedule, but she was kind enough to give me 20 minutes of her lunch break from her job at The People’s Place Public Library in Antigonish where she works as a librarian.

So, how did you first get to be interested in learning Gaelic?

Well, I spent quite a bit of time in Jr. High looking after my grandmother. Sometimes she would have visitors over and they would only speak in Gaelic. Of course I didn’t know what they said. Except for, 

“cuppa tì”.

When did you first take a Gaelic language class?

In 1982 I was studying at StFX and there were Gaelic classes being offered at the town hall with Hector MacNiel. It was very informal. No body would write anything down and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Then after school I went away for a few years. I didn’t try to take Gaelic again until 1987. I signed up for classes with Katrina Parsons, but then there was a death in my family and so I couldn’t attend her class.

So, for a while my only access to Gaelic was through the Gaelic days at St.FX. I would take my kids there and there would be games and stuff like that. I also enrolled my daughter at the Gaelic college when she was in high school. But I wouldn’t be taking classes myself until just a couple of years ago. Mari Parle had moved to Antigonish, and a friend of mine had a son who was taking Gaelic classes with her. It turned out that Mari was also offering evening classes for the parents of her younger students. I didn’t have a child in her class but I said to myself, “I’m going to go to that!” and I dragged my friend with me too. I’ve been taking classes in Antigonish every since, first with Mari and now with Patrick.

Why has this been something that you want to follow through on?

Because it’s part of my heritage, it’s part of my culture, and its part of who I am. Also, when you learn about the reasons why your parents lost the Gaelic and how it wasn’t through choice--that it was taken away from them, then there’s more of an inclination to reclaim it.

How does that feel? The act of reclaiming it?

I’m having a ball! I find that with everyone taking the classes. When we meet each other we’re all enjoying it. And it’s not just the classes. There are gatherings where you get to hear story telling and songs. It’s good neighborly fun. For me there isn’t a sense of work when I learn Gaelic, it’s more of a 

sense of adventure.

That sense of fun and adventure that you have with Gaelic, what’s the goal of the adventure?

My goal is to become relatively fluent. I’d like to be able to use the words that I’ve learned more 

frequently and to speak with people on the street who also have some Gaelic. I also want to attend as many occasions where people who are Gaelic speakers can come together and reinforce each other.

Why do you think that’s important?

When I grew up you never heard anything but English. It’s lovely now in Antigonish because you hear so many other languages. The French have their culture and it’s wonderful to hear them speak French in the library. The same thing happens at the library with people from other countries and cultures. We are hearing other languages and Gaelic has a place just the same as all the others. It’s part of who we are. This is who we are.   

Any last thoughts?

I think that the people who do have more fluency in Gaelic should use it more in public. With each other and with everyone. If someone hands you a book, then you can say “tapadh leibh”. I think if a fluent speaker used the language more in public that would encourage the beginners and learners to do the same. 

Pat (front left) and the brave souls who made it to the Culloden Cairn on a very windy April 16.

The Visit

This week I took a drive up to Aberdeen in Inverness county, Cape Breton to pay a visit to the participants in A’Togail na Gàidhlig / Lifting the Gaelic. 13 Participants moved into the beautifully spacious house overlooking the Bras d'Or Lakes on April 4th, and there they will stay until April 29th. There is a small room off to the side of the kitchen where people are allowed to speak English. Everywhere else is Gaelic. Morning, noon and night. This small room was handy for conducting interviews with organizers Shay MacMullin and Emily MacDonald, and participants Bradley Murphy and Andrea Moore.

You would be wrong to assume that everyone participating in A’Togail na Gàdhlig had prior experience speaking Gaelic. In fact, participants' Gaelic fluency varied a lot. Some had taken Gaelic language classes 2-3-times / week as well as more intensive study at the Gaelic College, while others had as little as 2 or 3 Gaelic classes under their belt. Some even less than that.

Andrea Moore, is one of those participants who started the program as a relative beginner.
“I didn’t have very much Gaelic when I came so I’m pleased that my Gaelic is better than someone else’s now."-- Meaning mine :)

"We’ve had a ceilidh every Wednesday, so this is the third one. During the first one, I was hiding in a corner and I didn’t want to talk to anyone, because I didn’t know how to.  And now It’s nice to be able to invite people in, offer them some tea, have a little chat, and have it not be stressful.”

When I asked Andrea about the things that motivated her to undertake this immersion experience she had this to say:

“Gaelic is my heritage. Before Gaelic I had learned 7 languages. Of all of them that I’ve learned this is the one that’s meant the most.”

That desire to reach within themselves and connect with family roots was echoed by Bradley Murphy. Bradley is a musician who has recently returned to Cape Breton after living in Montreal.

“I always wanted to learn Gaelic because my grandmother spoke it, but she didn’t really pass it onto her kids. She only spoke it to her sisters when no one wanted the kids to know what they were talking about. Unfortunately, that stopped it from being passed on. However, they still lived a Gaelic life. When my grandmother passed away two years ago I felt that I missed something. There was a way of life that I was missing.”

Emily MacDonald, and Shay MacMullin both host/facilitate the event, and we talked about the motivation that makes people  juggle work, school, family and living commitments in order to pursue A’Togail na Gàdhlig.

 “I can’t speak for everyone in the group, but I know for some of the people in the group were born and raised in Cape Breton and they want to stay here. Gaelic is part of their culture and I think for them, getting the language ties a lot of those things together,” said Shay.

However, the Gaelic Immersion experience is not something that should only draw people with Gaelic ancestry. I asked Emily how she would promote this kind of experience to someone with no ancestral connections to the culture. Her response spoke to the benefits of being exposed to different cultures:

“When you learn about a new culture, you are learning more about yourself. It makes you think about who you are and where you came from. How are we similar and how are we different? It helps solidify who we are.”

By this point in the evening the sounds of the ceilidh taking place outside of the English room were becoming harder to ignore. You could hear tunes starting up and the rhythmic stamp of a step dance session starting to build steam. Underneath it all there was the happy sound of people talking and swapping stories. Before we left the English room to join the fun, Shay added one last thing:

“I don’t think I can emphasize enough the commitment that these people are making. We said on day one that we’re going to live like a family and people really are. It’s a really lovely and supportive group. People are really tuned into each other’s needs. We all cook together and clean together. We all contribute together. It’s a rare and beautiful opportunity.”

Gach deagh dhùrachd / Every good wish!